Music-roll for player-pianos.



F. C. BiLLI'NGS. Musso HULL FOR PLAYER MANOS.

APPLICATiCN FILED MAR. 30. l9l.

- 277,18@ l Pamlte Aug. 27, i,

) There are lwo c/asses of me, Dap/e and Tr/'g/e. /nfJu/e rime, five number of eas fo #ze measure is div/sible byZ; in Trl/ale irme by i N J E N l C R WITNESSES; LEARN To READ AND smc; Tm: NOTES 1N YOUR own HOME.

BY f. 53ML MM FREDERICK C. BILLINGS, 0F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

MUSIC-ROLL FOR PLAYER-PIANOS Y To all uiltom t may concern:

'Bejit known that I, FREDERICK C. BIL- luxus, a'citizen of the United States, residingiat' thefcity of Milwaukee, countyof Milwanke-T and State of iiscolisin, have inyvented new andv useful Improvements in MusiclRolls for Player-Pianos, of which the following is a specification.

M vfinvention relates to improvements in playenpiano music rolls. The object of my invention is to provide means whereby such music rolls may be employed to facilitate fragment .including a printed I -'tiorizpoi the same exercise as represented by teaching music, the exercise, or set of exercises, bemg vprinted upon the roll 1n a position for exposure to view, preparatory to the passage ofthe perforate portion of the sheet over the tracker bar, and fragments of the exercise, representative. of the individual perforations of the series, being also displayed over the trackerbarsimultaneously,

or substantially simultaneously, with the4 sounding ofthe notes by the mechanical.

operation of the player'piano.

Ifthus propose to enable the pupil to manuallyfyplay the exercise, and lsubsequently haveithe exercise repeated mechanically, the pupil reading ,they notes during vboth operations, z'. e., while'manually playing the exercise and while the-same is being mechanically played, l y

The drawing illustrates a fragment of a .music roll, embodying myinvention, said exercise adapted to `beread and manually played by fthe. pupil, and also including the initial porp'le'rforations and printed fragments ofthe 'sanftel inlineal series uponhthe strip of paper 'composing the roll. My improved music strip'includes a' set of instructions printed upona portion A of the strip adjacent tomv the "connecting tab B', whereby the strip" may beusecured to the receiving roll offga pia'no player. The'instruction section A of the strip is followed'by a section B containing the printed music scale and stati', as in all ordinary instruction books, this constituting the first section, or element, of the exercise and being followed successively by additional sections C, D and E.

Section B, in the exercise illustrated, comprises the scale printed in full notes, as an ascending scale. Section C illustrates the descending scale, similarly7 prlnted. Sec- Specic'ation of Letters Patent. IgjteQ-tg"4 Application filed March 30, 1917. Serial No, 158,514

l. tion D includes both theasc section E includes thesani' vicinity of the tracker bar, t.

produced, with the p'rin'ted"portioijfoiiV g scending scale, printed 1in ter notes. A These several sections A, B, C, D a'ndE are so arranged upon `the/strip may be successively expose advanced mechanically by hplafy'e piano; il and its motion arrested by` operatioi theV controlling lever, with'-wliicli'"'such are provided. Player oian"o"s arealsdpr vided with reverse levers", whereby "t may be .retracted at pleasurejfand advancing and retractin-g the s y the 'requirements of the pupil "various"s'e'c-A 70 tions' of the exercise may b'e 'successively played manually without 1c`o11ius'io1 il ""The section to be played isinvariabl' lpirestinted",` in a predeterminedrelationt the` t1 ck'er' bar. l i "Y The section F-of the strip'isfpei o1 the ordinary manner, tofcoiitrl t" of the player piano in mech'aiiilcall' dlucing the exercise printedft E inclusive, whereby thelstrip'niay be c .tinuously advanced after vthe `pupil l'ia`s""":1nVV spected or played the practice'sectionsA to'. 'A E inclusive, and .the`exercise'mech` icalli repeated. But, inv order toge" to associate eachsound, thu

exercise which it represents, il' priiita ment of a musicalscale in ally offset from each vperfo ti.

imperforated border poi-tio of the scale containing a vprinted e, of notes, associated with thefadyaceri forations, or setof perforations,in 'suc manner that the pupil willfbe ,enabled "to" read l the music simultaneously with' "l sound of the exposed printedmptesfh player piano.

tra

In 'this maynnerwfr" I readily'learns to associate th' with the sounds which tho ,A e sent. The stati1 lines in earch fragment exif tend' horizontally, z'. e., transversely of theA strip, as indicated at f, f in the drawing. The stati" and the printed notes thereon are therefore` displayed in the same manner as any ordinary printed song book or music 105 sheet, with the exception that the staff is subdivided into fragments, and thefragments arranged in a lineal series, whereby the notes upon each fragment may be as sociated with the perforations which produce such notes.

l `From the foregoinga description it will be apparent that a pupil using my improved music roll may not only practice his exerciseinanually in the ordinary manner, but

may at any time, by advancing the strip,

the mechanical reproduction thereof, and

also provides means whereby the pupil may not only listen to the mechanical reproduction of the exercise, and simultaneously read the saine and associate the rinted characters with the soun'ds mechanically produced, but the pupil may also accompany the instrument by manually fingering' the keys simultaneously with their mechanical oper tion. The pupil will soon learn to slightly anticipate the depression of each key, themechanical depression 'of the keys correct.- ing any errors whichhe may make. In this manner the pupil learns to read the music very quickly, and the stati lines being printed horizontally with the notes thereon in conventional form, it is `obvious that any pupil who has learned to read music by using my improved roll may subsequently learn it with equal facility from a book or music sheet, all the conventional signs and symbols beingsimilarly displayed, and the music being'read from left to right on the music roll in the same manner as upon a printed page or sheet.

The only difference between reading` the exercise from the music roll and the act oi reading it from a printed sheet or, page oft' ordinary music, is' that IK, preferably read the lines from the bottom to the top successively, instead of commencing at the top and reading to the bottom. This is done merely in order that while reading the music the same paraiso may be advanced over the tracker bai' in -theplayer piano, the said strip havingaseriesot'- perfoiations in `another portion of the roll!" adapted to cause the mechanical reprodiicNIJ tion of the same exercise by a player piane when used in connectiontherewith, Where,-

- by a student may have the exercise mecha1iically played in alterna-tion with efforts to read the music as printed upon the imperio rate portion of the roll and to play the saine manually upon the instrument with which the roll is used. l i Y l A. music instruction roll for player pianos, comprising a strip having an .iinpeitorateportion, a printed exercise upon said portion subdivided'y into `traum rsely extending' sections adapted .for successive ex-4 posure upon the tracker bar without expos;`

ing perforations thereon, said stripbeing provided with a perfoiate portion adapted to mechanically reproduce the same exercise when used in connection with' a player pia o,

said perforate portion having an impei orate border portion provided with printed 'fragn'ients displaying portions 'of the exer cise and arranged in lineal series, each such,-

printed fragment being;` laterally oiiset from perfoiations productive' of thevsoundsrepresented by the notes on the printed frag? inent, whereby a student may alternately Iplay the exercise upon the piano While thel imperforateportion is beingpassed over the tracker bar, and then read the saine exercise on the iinperforate border portion ywhile the sounds are being mechanically 'i lx)roduced as the perforate yportion traversv tracker'bar.

In testimony whereof` I affix my signature' I in the presence oftwo witnesses.

' FREDERICK BILLINGS.l ll'7itnesses: l y ,y

FREDERICK lV. NoL'in, i O. (l WEBER.' 

